Montreal: Both industrial players and program creators in the Canadian broadcasting system want government to create a better balance between economics and culture, but the two sides continue to deliver diametrically opposed solutions.

Recent review submissions to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage illustrate the point.

Echoing a Canadian Cable Television Association presentation to the Heritage committee, president and CEO Janet Yale says, ‘There’s tension between unrestricted choice and the ability of the Canadian broadcasting system to stay strong,’ but majority foreign ownership of Canadian BDUs does not mean the end of Canadian content or regulatory requirements.

In its 25-page submission to the Heritage committee, the Writers Guild of Canada calls on government ‘to maintain existing foreign ownership limitations in the broadcast industry.’ The WGC says Canadian control of private broadcasters, cable and DTH companies has been a cornerstone of a healthy TV industry, in sharp contrast to the feature film industry where Canada ‘is effectively an annex of the U.S. market.’

Yale says the real issue is ‘whether or not we are allowed to go over 50% and are we prepared to have a non-Canadian owned and controlled infrastructure?’

She says access to capital is more expensive because of the cap (foreign ownership of BDUs is capped at just under 47%), and broadband infrastructure investment is being reduced.

‘What is the downside in allowing foreign entities to come in and put money in the ground in Canada? It’s not like at the end of the day the infrastructure leaves.’

Yale says foreign-owned BDUs will have to abide by Canadian law and CRTC carriage requirements. ‘These [foreign] companies will live by the rules and regulations established by the CRTC.

‘We really [propose] a strong separation between the carriage business and the content business,’ says Yale, adding the CCTA holds broadcasters should remain majority Canadian.

In 2001, CCTA members supported Canadian-content creation through contributions to the Canadian Television Fund ($80 million), the independent funds ($8 million), community channel programming ($80 million) and other activities such as CPAC ($5 million).

In a Feb. 19 presentation to the Heritage committee, the CCTA also recommended government move to reform the regulatory process by reducing the size of the CRTC and making it more accountable and transparent; legislate an amendment to respond to the growing black-market satellite problem; and recognize the unique circumstances of small cable systems.

Yale says historically restrictive policies, the essential premise or ‘tool’ of the Canadian broadcasting system, have become ineffective ‘because of the combination of competition and digital technology.’

The CCTA says competition between legal and illegal BDUs has created real consumer choice, and because as many as 500,000 to 600,000 Canadians households own black-market systems, the U.S. programming option is a market reality. And digital technology further empowers consumers to select ‘attractive packages’ and tune out unwanted services, says Yale.

Writers Guild of Canada

The WGC wants government to maintain and entrench the regulatory system of broadcast licences; review the CRTC decision not to regulate the Internet; increase funding resources for public broadcasting, in particular the CBC; strengthen Canadian content definitions; and encourage more production of Canadian drama programs.

The WGC says the existing CAVCO six out of 10 point benchmark for Canadian content has created ‘a made-in-L.A. Cancon model’ to the detriment of Canadian screenwriters.

In 1999, the WGC says Canadian writers received only 46.2% of writing contracts for adult drama hours, while U.S. writers obtained 66% of the writing contracts in higher-budget export genres like action-adventure, sci-fi and fantasy dramas.

‘We’ve experienced a major decline in indigenous hour-long adult drama series produced in our jurisdiction,’ says Jim McKee, WGC director of policy and communications. ‘The high-water mark was 1999, when we had 11 indigenous hour-long drama series in production. In 2000, that number fell to five, and it stayed at five in 2001. The outlook is pretty much the same for 2002. By indigenous series we mean the identifiably Canadian series like DaVinci’s Inquest, Blue Murder and Tom Stone – hour dramas that access the CTF. By export series, we mean shows that are largely driven by foreign presales and the tax credits – shows like Earth: Final Conflict and Mutant X.’

WGC data indicates production of export-oriented shows (action/adventure/fantasy) has held steady: 11 were produced in ’99 and 11 in 2001, while adult drama half-hours have gone from seven series in ’99 to 10 in 2000 to just five in 2001.

The WGC is scheduled to appear before the Heritage committee May 2.

-www.ccta.ca

-www.wgc.ca